Dante Gabriel Rossetti: La Bella Mano, 1875

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator, and was the brother of poet Christina Rossetti and critic William Michael Rossetti. For many years, Rossetti worked on English translations of Italian poetry, he later created a method of painting in watercolours, using thick pigments mixed with gum to give rich effects similar to medieval illuminations. He also developed a novel drawing technique in pen-and-ink.

He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement, most notably William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Rossetti's art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism.

Rossetti completed the sonnet entitled “La Bella Mano” a year after the painting, suggesting the visual representation may have been the inspiration for the poem. The painting represents a personification of love - Venus assisted by her winged attendants. The canvas is rich in details all contributing to the theme of love, both spiritual and earthly, as represented in the central figure. The effect of a halo is created by the convex mirror showing the bed, which entices a present or future lover.

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HC-1509: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)